ISLAMABAD: A special parliamentary committee, comprising government and opposition politicians, has unanimously approved the draft for the 26th constitutional amendment, according to its chairman on Friday, even as former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party opposed it and called for a nationwide protest by its supporters.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration has been attempting to introduce a set of constitutional changes since last month, which the country’s opposition and prominent lawyers argue is aimed at granting more power to the executive in making judicial appointments.
The proposed amendments initially suggested establishing a federal constitutional court, raising the retirement age of superior judges by three years and modifying the process for appointing the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The PTI believed the amendments were intended to grant an extension to Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is widely thought to be aligned with the government and opposed to its chief rival, ex-PM Khan, though the ruling administration denied the allegation.
Different political parties prepared various drafts of the constitutional amendment during several rounds of negotiations before announcing their agreement on the proposed judicial reforms and submitting it to the parliamentary committee.
“The special parliamentary committee has unanimously approved the draft of the 26th Constitutional Amendment today, Friday,” Syed Khursheed Shah, the committee chairman from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), told the media after presiding over the meeting.
“It will now be presented to the cabinet for approval before being submitted to both houses of parliament,” he continued, adding the committee also included the long-standing demand to allow overseas Pakistanis to contest elections.
However, Shah noted that these individuals would only be able to participate in the voting process by first renouncing their foreign nationality.
In a televised speech to his parliamentary party leaders, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari expressed optimism that the constitutional amendment would soon be adopted, as political parties were close to reaching a consensus to secure the required majority.
However, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, chairman of the opposition PTI party, said the fourth draft of the constitutional amendment, containing 26 points, was shared with his party earlier today, adding that it was still deliberating on it.
“We will soon reach a decision and meet with Imran Khan to finalize it,” he said. “We will submit a request for a meeting with Khan and discuss the party’s decision for final approval.”
The former prime minister has been imprisoned in a high-security jail for over a year on multiple charges.
The PTI had given a nationwide protest call for Friday against the constitutional amendment, though its supporters only came out small clusters in various Pakistani cities.
Senator Irfan Siddique, a committee member from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party, told the media that no one opposed any clause of the draft constitutional amendment, describing it as a positive sign.
“We hope to present it before both houses of parliament soon,” he said.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday Pakistan would continue sending relief goods to Palestine and Lebanon to aid those affected by Israel’s military campaign in the Middle East.
Israel besieged the Gaza Strip and launched airstrikes after a surprise attack by Hamas in October last year, which the group claimed was in response to the worsening conditions of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
More recently, it opened another front in Lebanon with the stated goal of destroying Hezbollah, which attempted to provide military assistance to the Palestinians, raising fears of a broader regional conflict, potentially involving Iran.
Pakistan has so far dispatched 12 aid shipments to Palestine and Lebanon, which include ready-to-eat meat, tents, tarpaulins, warm bedding, winter clothing and powdered milk.
“We will not abandon the Muslims of Palestine, Gaza and Lebanon in their time of hardship,” the prime minister was quoted as saying in a statement released by his office.
“Pakistan will also send additional tents and blankets for our brothers and sisters in Palestine, Gaza and Lebanon, who are victims of Israeli aggression, as winter approaches,” he added.
Sharif instructed Pakistani ambassadors in Palestine’s neighborhood to submit a report on the required number of tents and blankets in the two war zones.
He said his government would soon send 3,000 more tents and 12,000 blankets to the two countries along with medicines and other items.
“No compromise should be made on the quality of aid being sent to Palestine and Lebanon,” he added.
The prime minister also criticized Western countries for not stopping Israel from killing “defenseless people.”
“History bears witness that the major cause of world wars in the 20th century was the silence of global powers on such conflicts,” he said.